Central contractual employees to get paid like regular staff: Report

About 10 lakh contractual employees working in various departments of Central government will now get paid like permanent employees, a report of Amar Ujala claimed today.

As per the report, the Department of Personnel and Training yesterday issued an order to all departments in this regard.

As per the order, all contractual or temporary Central government employees working for eight hours a day will now be entitled to get minimum basic salary and Dearness allowance as a permanent employee in the same position.


However, the contractual workers will only be paid for the number of days they work. Also, equal pay for equal work won't mean they will get regularised.

Till now such contractual employees were getting minimum basic salary as notified by the respective state governments. For instance, the Delhi government has fixed minimum basic salary of Rs 14,000 for unskilled workers which will now jump to Rs 30,000, explained the Amar Ujala report.

However, if the contractual worker has a different profile than the permanent employees then he will get the minimum basic salary as notified by the state government.

The order has come three years after the Supreme Court ruled that temporary workers are entitled to wages at par with permanent employees.

In 2016, the apex court had said: "Any one, who is compelled to work at a lesser wage, does not do so voluntarily. He does so, to provide food and shelter to his family, at the cost of his self respect and dignity, at the cost of his self worth, and at the cost of his integrity. For he knows, that his dependents would suffer immensely, if he does not accept the lesser wage,"

However, many are not enthusiastic about the latest order. The Amar Ujala reported quoted Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh as saying that such orders were issued earlier but were never implemented.